Media environment driven content distribution platform

Abstract

A method for a media environment driven content distribution platform includes obtaining synchronization data derived from the content and ancillary data pegged to instants in the synchronization data derived from the content, and communicating the synchronization data derived from the content and the ancillary data pegged to the instants in the synchronization data derived from the content such that subsequent alignment of the synchronization data derived from the content to the content synchronizes the ancillary data pegged to the instants in the synchronization data derived from the content to the content.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A machine or group of machines for a media environment driven content distribution platform, comprising:
 a pre-synchronizer configured to obtain ancillary data and synchronization data derived from the content and to correlate the ancillary data to times in the synchronization data derived from the content such that subsequent alignment of the synchronization data derived from the content to the content at a user's premises synchronizes the ancillary data, correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content, to the content, wherein specific objects of the ancillary data are distributed based on event data relating to the media environment; and 
 a transceiver configured to communicate the synchronization data derived from the content and the ancillary data correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content to a storage location; 
 wherein the ancillary data includes a first ancillary data object and a second ancillary data object that are both correlated to a same time in the synchronization data, and the first ancillary data object and not the second ancillary data object is distributed based on the event data relating to the media environment. 
 
     
     
       2. The machine or group of machines of  claim 1 , wherein the pre-synchronizer is configured to receive ancillary data in the form of:
 data about music in the content, 
 data about a script played out in the content, 
 data about wardrobe wore by characters in the content, data describing the content, 
 data including comments from performers, producers, or directors of the content, data including comments from viewers of the content, 
 data including a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to a resource that includes information about the content, 
 advertisement data, or 
 statistics of the content including at least content name or content identification. 
 
     
     
       3. The machine or group of machines of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the transceiver is configured to communicate the synchronization data derived from the content and the ancillary data correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content to a database accessible by consumers of the content. 
 
     
     
       4. The machine or group of machines of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the transceiver is configured to communicate the synchronization data derived from the content and the ancillary data correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content to a storage location accessible by consumers of the content; and 
 the pre-synchronizer is configured to create a link to the storage location. 
 
     
     
       5. The machine or group of machines of  claim 1 , comprising:
 a processor configured to create the synchronization data derived from the content, wherein: 
 the transceiver is configured to communicate the synchronization data derived from the content and the ancillary data correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content to a storage location accessible by consumers of the content; 
 the pre-synchronizer is configured to create a link to the storage location; and the processor is configured to insert the link to the storage location into metadata of the content. 
 
     
     
       6. The machine or group of machines of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the pre-synchronizer is configured to collect the ancillary data during a previous playout or performance of the content and to peg the ancillary data to times in the synchronization data derived from the content corresponding to times in the content. 
 
     
     
       7. The machine or group of machines of  claim 1 , comprising:
 a processor configured to create the synchronization data derived from the content and transmit the synchronization data derived from the content to the pre-synchronizer. 
 
     
     
       8. The machine or group of machines of  claim 1 , comprising:
 an audio processor configured to create the synchronization data derived from the content by creating an audio waveform signature of the content's audio. 
 
     
     
       9. The machine or group of machines of  claim 1 , comprising:
 authoring tools configured to collect the ancillary data during a playout or performance of the content for correlating the ancillary data to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content. 
 
     
     
       10. A machine or group of machines for a media environment driven content distribution platform, comprising:
 a transceiver configured to obtain the content, synchronization data derived from the content, and ancillary data correlated to times in the synchronization data derived from the content; and 
 a post-synchronizer configured to align the synchronization data derived from the content to the content thereby synchronizing the ancillary data correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content to the content; 
 wherein specific objects of the ancillary data are distributed based on the media environment, the ancillary data includes a first ancillary data object and a second ancillary data object that are both correlated to a same time in the synchronization data, and the event data dictates that the first ancillary data object and not the second ancillary data object is to be distributed based on the media environment. 
 
     
     
       11. The machine or group of machines of  claim 10 , wherein the transceiver is configured to receive the ancillary data in the form of:
 data about music in the content, 
 data about a script played out in the content, 
 data about wardrobe wore by characters in the content, data describing the content, 
 data including comments from performers, producers, or directors of the content, data including comments from viewers of the content, 
 data including a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to a resource that includes 
 information about the content, 
 advertisement data, or 
 statistics of the content including at least content name or content identification. 
 
     
     
       12. The machine or group of machines of  claim 10 , comprising: interaction tools configured to collect the ancillary data during a playout or
 performance of the content for correlating the ancillary data to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content. 
 
     
     
       13. The machine or group of machines of  claim 10 , comprising:
 a processor configured to receive the content from the transceiver and extract from metadata of the content a link to storage location in which the synchronization data 
 derived from the content and the ancillary data correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content are stored and accessible by consumers of the content; and 
 the transceiver is configured to obtain the synchronization data derived from the content and the ancillary data correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content from the storage location. 
 
     
     
       14. The machine or group of machines of  claim 10 , comprising:
 a processor configured to compare the content to the synchronization data derived from the content to identify the content. 
 
     
     
       15. The machine or group of machines of  claim 10 , comprising:
 interaction tools configured to display the ancillary data in synchronicity with presentation of the content relying on the aligning of the synchronization data derived from the content to the content. 
 
     
     
       16. A machine or group of machines for a media environment driven content distribution platform, comprising:
 a database configured to store synchronization data derived from the content and ancillary data correlated to times in the synchronization data derived from the content such that subsequent alignment of the synchronization data derived from the content to the content synchronizes the ancillary data correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content to the content; and 
 a transceiver configured to communicate the synchronization data derived from the content and the ancillary data correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content; 
 wherein specific objects of the ancillary data are distributed based on the media environment; and the ancillary data includes a first ancillary data object and a second ancillary data object that are both correlated to a same time in the synchronization data, and the event data dictates that the first ancillary data object and not the second ancillary data object is to be distributed based on the media environment. 
 
     
     
       17. The machine or group of machines of  claim 16 , wherein
 the database is configured to continue to receive and store the ancillary data during subsequent playout or performance of the content, wherein the ancillary data is correlated to the times in the synchronization data derived from the content corresponding to times in the content during the subsequent playout or performance.